Notable names and changes

1947: The Bay Theatre opened on Main Street.

1965-69: Steven Spielberg hung out at an unnamed art theater in Seal Beach while attending Cal State Long Beach, according to a biography, and his fraternity, Theta Chi, briefly maintained a house in town.

2009: The theater was on the market for $3.3 million – $1 million more than today. Then-Councilman Charles Antos told a Register reporter the Bay would likely have to be torn down for a new owner to get any use out of it.

Aug. 2, 2012: The day the Bay Theatre closed, according to its website. "Check this site for updates on our re-opening, and thank you for your continued interest and support," it says.

Theater co-owner offers some insight

Jan van Dijs and his partners have owned the Art Theatre in Long Beach for six years, believing the theater is a "local community icon that needed to continue to exist." They put $1 million into renovating the 89-year-old art deco theater and now show foreign films, documentaries and other "intelligent" releases, according to van Dijs. A construction manager by day, he said he'd heard people are interested in buying the Bay Theatre and offered advice.

Q. Is the Art Theatre profitable?

A. It's survivable, but it's not great. It loses about $20,000 on a cash flow basis. It lost a lot more in the beginning, but, once we figured out how to manage it, it loses about $20,000 a year. ... Academy Award films are coming up, and as soon as that is over you go through three or four months of really slow ticket sales.

Q.What kind of movie fills the house for you?

A. A film that crosses over several lines. It's an intelligent film, which is not necessarily an art house film, and it speaks to our community. "The Artist" was a film that, although it was a major release ... it had that feel.

Q. You often screen "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Does that help your bottom line?

A. Oh yeah, it does. It's awesome. It does because it's consistent, but it also serves a market for us, a demographic – young people. It allows them to connect to our theater.

Q.Do you have any advice for the prospective buyers of the Bay Theatre?

A. It's not a viable business model, so it's not the type of thing you do where you go in with the intention to make money. Given that, they really need to make sure, if they're going to do it, they can't go in there with projections of income that are going to sustain it, because it's not going to happen.

Classic flicks

Part of what many community members care about in preserving the Bay Theatre is its commitment to classic films. Here are some movies that were shown at the theater in recent years:

• "2001: A Space Odyssey"

• "La Dolce Vita"

• "Some Like It Hot"

• "Easy Rider"

• "Blue Velvet"

• "The Shining"

Source: baytheatre.com

Voices

Q. What do you think of the Bay being closed for so long?

A. I would like to see it be a performing arts center for community theater.

Wendy Schulien of Old Town

Q. There's a rumor that Steven Spielberg would come here during his Cal State Long Beach days ...

A. I think that's lovely – there's another icon in the movie business that used to attend this icon.

Stephen Bruce of Old Town

Q. What movie – any movie – would you like to see most at the Bay right now?

A. I saw "The Godfather" here. ... I'd see that again.

James Jensen of Surfside

The Bay Theatre sits as an anchor of Seal Beach's short strip of Main Street.

It looms taller than the other buildings between Pacific Coast Highway and the ocean. With the abundance of small businesses, especially restaurants and cafes nearby, it's easy to imagine a time when the theater was a popular attraction before or after dinner or time at the beach.

But for the last year, the Bay has sat empty, the only lettering on its marquee reading “Watch for our re-opening” and directing passersby to its website.

There's a group in town that's hoping to change that. Just before the theater closed in August 2012, a resident founded an organization that aims to buy and restore the Bay – which had previously been listed for $3.3 million – in hopes of turning it into a community center focused on the arts.

Nick Carabetta, a 28-year-old master's degree candidate at Pepperdine University and an employee at Crema Café down the street from the theater, founded the Bay Theater Foundation.

His vision for the foundation is to preserve the property as a theater but also to make it into a “multipurpose venue that would serve the community in different ways.” This could mean offering acting classes, hosting film festivals and possibly creating an after-school program.

“We're trying to base this on what people in Seal Beach are looking for,” Carabetta said.

The theater, now listed for sale with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services for $2.17 million, is not listed as a historic landmark. But some reviews on Yelp make it sound like it is one in the eyes of many former customers.

“I've seen Annie Hall here, The Big Lebowski, and Pulp Fiction. Writing anything else would be a complete waste of energy,” writes one reviewer.

“A gem that I will truly miss,” writes another. “I miss the old styled seats, the slight smell of old books, the intimate viewings, the real butter on the popcorn.”

And perhaps more ironic given the uncertainty of the Bay's future, this review from 2009: “You know that old movie theater your hometown either tore down or is turning into a playhouse? Seal Beach keeps theirs and they show some of the best films from every era.”

Before closing, which the theater's owner Rena Singer said was “purely a business decision,” the single-screen Bay showed classic movies such as “Harold and Maude,” “American Graffiti” and “A Clockwork Orange,” as well as silent films and art films.

According to the Bay's website, the prices were a bargain, too: $8 for general admission and $6 for seniors and students with IDs.

Though the Bay Theatre and the Bay Theater Foundation may have similar names,there is no official link between Singer and the Bay Theater Foundation. Carabetta said switching “theatre” to “theater” was one way he hoped to make it distinct that the foundation is just one interested buyer, with no official affiliation to the property. And he also realizes that, with such a high fundraising goal, the possibility of another buyer swooping in is very real.

“That fear is still there, that somebody could still come in and buy it up,” Carabetta said. “But I've made my peace with that.”

And there is a possibility that a buyer could turn the space into a spot for retail stores, though Nathan Holthouser, a senior associate at Marcus & Millichap, said he believes that would be unlikely.

“If somebody were to make it into retail, they'd have to spend quite a lot of money,” Holthouser said.

He also said there have been many parties interested in buying the theater – and written offers from multiple groups, including movie theater operators. He said he couldn't comment on who specifically made written offers or if any might lead to a sale.

Seal Beach Councilwoman Ellery Deaton said she supports the foundation because she believes it would represent the interests of the community.

“What I'm concerned about is, if we wait, then someone will buy it and tear it down,” she said. “This is a time game we're playing here. Whoever can get it, good. But the community is important to be worked with, and to me the foundation represents the community.”

Carabetta is working on officially registering Bay Theater Foundation as a nonprofit. He applied for a tax-exempt 501(c)3 status in February but is still waiting for the paperwork to be processed.

In the meantime, the foundation is working to raise awareness for its cause by holding events like movie showings in parks and by selling T-shirts bearing the group's name.

Because of the pending status, Carabetta said the group is “not officially fundraising yet.” But he said the foundation has received several small cash donations between $10 and $200 and a large donation of $10,000. He also said an anonymous donor has pledged to give $100,000 in the future.

The foundation's goal, though, is much higher. About $5 million, Carabetta said, is a safe estimate for what the group aims to raise over the next few years to be able to buy the property and get the single-screen theater up and running again.

In addition to planning a full fundraising campaign once the group attains nonprofit status, Carabetta also wants to eventually establish a board of directors – but said he is “trying to find the right people.”

Seth Eaker, one of the directors of business development for the Bay Theater Foundation, said that even if the hopeful, soon-to-be nonprofit can't muster the funds to purchase the theater, he still hopes it will have influence on whatever happens there. If the foundation can't buy or partner with the party that buys the theater, it would still act as a mouthpiece for what the community would want, he said.

“I'm not worried, because, regardless (of who buys it), the foundation is going to have a role,” he said. “This community is too tight-knit to not have input on many things that happen here.”

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